the gb's suck cause theyre warmers. i actually think that, save the talking r2 and lightning emperor, hasbro chose all excellent rots sculpts for this collection. you cant say the royal guard, padme, 3po, wookiee, and pilot obi are horrid, though i hate the gb's status as ******* warmers as much as the next guy .

the tpm obi is actually a NICE kit bash, though its articulation is limited at best.

barada, yeah, he sucks *****, but he's at least good for scene creating purposes. with the carkoon wave's release and that of the carkoon bp ive been trying to save up for the skiff to create scenes with these characters. the new barada's paintjob is better than the POTF2's, at least. my POTF2 Barada was literally thrown out months ago .

and the padme, despite her pinhead, still has great articulation and is 1000 times better than both of the previous two AOTC padmes (excluding the lars homestead one, which also sucked) combined.

besides that, i have to agree with you on everything else on your list.

Yeah, the figures were good & all but they shouldn't of done the second H&Vs period, by trooeprs I also meant the guard & wookiee. Obi has a better version that I have never seen before out, the TSC one w/ soft goods. Padme & 3PO are OK, but 3PO has a much superior version warming alongside this version. Padme dosen't need to be re-packed she warmed last year.

in my area, there is always at least one tsc obi at every tru i go to. in my area, i had to go through a lot to get my tsc 3po. in my area, i had to go through a lot to hget a rots padme. and in my area, the only warmer last year was neimoidian warrior and clone pilot.

- VTSC Biker Scout: Loved him. Great articulation on an Imp Army builder = bliss. I really hope they get around to the Snowtrooper in the next batch of "Vintage" re-issue figures...

- VTSC Endor Han: Loved him. Great articulation on one of my favorites. I really hope they get around to Bespin Han in the next batch of of "Vintage" re-issues figures...

- R5-D4: Now I can finally throw away that POTF2 mostrosity! Yay!

The Bad:

- Commander Cody: I liked him, but he really needed better legs to be great...

- Scorch: Another great figure that could have really used better legs...

The Ugly:

- Poggle the Lesser: Did he need to be re-issued?

- Holo Ki-Adi/Maul/Cody/Obi-Wan: I'm tired of Holo figures...

- Vader/Vader/Vader/Vader: Pick one and stick with it. There was no need for Hoth Vader, Bespin Vader, H&V Vader, DS2 Vader, etc. Just pick one carded version and keep that ONE version shipping through the year.

-Reaction To Availability... At the start of the year Hasbro was sucking pretty hard on distribution, but they've stepped it up considerably and righted many wrongs on figures like Scorch, Clones, Sandtroopers, Gunners, etc.

-VintageTSC... Despite prices, the VTSC line was widely available, even the much desired Scout, and nobody should've had a problem finding this line in bulk if they wanted it.

-VintageTSC Quality... Superb. VTSC was head and shoulders above VOTC with not one "flop" figure in the wave. VOTC was plagued with at least one failure in each wave, sometimes a failure and some so-so efforts.... At that price, it was inexcuseable.

The Bad...

-Price... For most, we haven't seen a figure under the $6.50-ish mark for a long time. Target, WM, KM, KB and pretty much anyone else selling SW in the Pittsburgh area are all $6.99 or barely under it. No $5.99 Target prices here, nope. $7 a figure is a travesty when Hasbro's efforts don't include a standard higher level of articulation. I mean, ask yourself this; Is Rep Been really a $7 toy? Or what about Chief Chirpa who is cool for what he is, but $7+ cool? Yeah, I don't think so either.

-Quality... Sculpt and paint applications are rarely something Hasbro drops the ball on, nor should they. They're not something dramatically effected in the accounting of the individual figure's costs... That said, and this goes back to the ****** price we're paying, $7 a figure should not mean we get Major Derlin without knee joints, or Commando Scorch without knees, or any of the other myriad of figures who got screwed on articulation this year like all the Cantina figures... Momaw Nadon has a pathetic 6 points, not surpassing his POTF2 sculpt... 3 sculpts of that figure exist, and not one is more poseable. That sucks ass, but at $5 a figure it would've been a bit more pallatable... At $7+ a figure, you're getting a screwjob from Hasbro and retail.

-Accessories (Some)... Hasbro underwhelmed with some figures this year... Derlin coming with a peashooter and nothing else. General Riekean coming with really nothing, yet costing nearly as much as his ULtra counterpart (and not costing Hasbro much at all). And then there were other figures that were piled with some accessories but short of greatness, such as Veers lacking a back to his armor, and the helmet that doesn't fit right on the figure's head due to not having a removable kepi hat. Accessories were hit or miss this year it seemed.

-Holographic figures... I'm so sick of them I hav epassed on Maul every time I've seen him. I'm with Jeff on this. These are things that are better for exclusives or mail-away promos, not so heavily mixed into the basic line all year long. Hell, one or two a year tops, but not like we've seen.

-MAJOR Figures Screwed Over... Commander Cody was probablyt he most anxiously awaited basic figure this year, and Hasbro completely slobbed that knob. A pinhead, a pre-posed sculpt to the legs, lacking ankle articulation, questionable paint applications... Hasbro could've have picked a worse figure to say, "Hey, let's experiment with pre-posed action stances again!", and it was thoroughly irritating to this collector. Add to that figures like Scorch who lacks knee articulation making him somehow a ******** figure than even Commander Bacara turned out. And there are others.

-And did I mention price? Yeah, $7+ figures suck ass... They sucked in 1999, they suck now, and until every figure is at LEAST as poseable as the Death Star Gunner, the $7+ price is going to continue to suck and impact how much I buy and how picky I am about picking up extra stuff here and there. Hasbro and retail combine for that suckfest.

I was just thinking about this the other day as the year is wrapping up now. What was the "best of 2006" in the Star Wars line? I personally don't have any of the "Final 22" yet, so I'll leave those off the list (pretty much just repaints anyways) - but here's some of my favorites for this year:

Higher Points

VTSC - I really liked all of the figures in this year's assortment. The Scout obviously stands out, but I really like the Han and Luke as well, and the Tusken/Greedo are nice figures too. Solid wave all around.

Basic Figures - Some of the high points for this year for me were nice or long awaited figures: Leia Boussh, AT-AT Driver, Firespeeder Pilot, Commander Cody, Hammerhead, Hem Dazon, R5-D4, Garindan, Sandtrooper, Chirpa, C-3PO with knees and throne, Death Star Gunner, General Veers, Bren Derlin, etc. Some of those figures have a few drawbacks, usually with articulation issues, but overall it still amazes me some of the characters we get, and how much resculpts can improve the previous attempts at figures.

Vehicles - I don't necessarily mean all of the repaints and repacks, because I know those frustrate some people, but I was able to pick up a couple of OT ships that I missed out on the first time this year (Snowspeeder, Imperial Shuttle) - as well as a spiffily packaged up Dagobah X-Wing. I really felt like the Shuttle is a pretty nice deal too. I usually don't spend that much on one item, but $60 for a large ship, a former VOTC figure, and another figure didn't feel too bad to me. Otherwise it seemed to be starfighters, starfighters everywhere . I actually really like the ROTS Jedi Starfighter too, but it seems like that's almost all the line is anymore.

Galactic Heroes - Finally some new figures, and finally some OT-based ones. Glad to see this line getting some attention now.

Lower Points

Price - it seems to keep going up, and although I hate to say it, it might eventually price me out of the game if it gets too high - or at least force me to cut back considerably.

Repacks - some were good ideas (Sandtrooper, ROTS clones, etc.), some were not. They could have eased up on the Greatest Battles/Heroes and Villains figures - but reports seem to conflict on whether or not these are selling. Some places seem like they are flying off the pegs, but here, not so much. I even see Shocktroopers fairly consistently at this point.

Too Much Stuff - I've said it before, but it sometimes seems overwhelming with all the stuff that is out there. Of course, I don't buy it all - and also, the number of "new" figures isn't all that high I guess. The more I get caught up on POTF2 figures (or if they get resculpted) that I missed originally, the fewer of the repacks I'll probably be buying. I'm also ready for more of a shift to OT product, or at least Saga wide consistency. Enough prequel stuff for now. I'm excited for the BARC trooper, as well as the Airborne Trooper and Galactic Marine in the first part of next year, but beyond those I might be ready for somewhat of a break from clones for awhile. I know each line has their fans, but I kind of wish they would scale back the different offerings in the Star Wars license. Again, not that I buy all of it, but I think it burns some other people out - and maybe oversaturates the general public with Star Wars in general.

Possible/Probable End of 7" Unleashed - Sure, it sounds like we've got another round of repackaged figures next year, but its really started to feel like the nail is in the coffin after this year's dust-collecting repacks and clearance fodder.

good figures:(some i haven`t got, but i think they are)foul moudamagragrasora bulqpodracersluke endorcommander codypoggle the lessermajor bren derlingarindanc3po ewok throne

bad figures:chewbacca(i only bought him, because i havent got one and it was for low price)holo darth maulholo ki adi mundidarth vader(endor wave)naboo soldier(i hate it)emperor palpatine(ihhhhh)c3po battle head(all shelves full of him)luke tatooineboth han solo( i bought one, because i needed one and it looks quite good, but hasbro coul have done better with 002)